San Jose Sharks not sending their top players to Vancouver for exhibition opener Monday night

SAN JOSE -- Ask Todd McLellan what he's looking for in Monday night's exhibition opener against the Vancouver Canucks and the list goes on and on.

"It's that first audition against an opponent," McLellan said before he and 21 players boarded the team plane for a same-day flight to Vancouver. "We want to see if players belong, if they have the confidence and feel comfortable in that type of stage.

"Secondly we want to see their skill set. There's a reason why they're in an NHL training camp. They do something well. We want to see that come out. We want to see who plays tentative and who plays aggressive."

McLellan, who said he plans to play Alex Stalock in goal for the entire game, is following standard practice and keeping most of his big guns home for the exhibition opener.

San Jose's third line of Joe Pavelski, Tommy Wingels and 2012 first-round pick Tomas Hertl as well as its fourth line of Andrew Desjardins, James Sheppard and Adam Burish will be making the trip.

But no one currently penciled in on the top two lines is heading north. Nor are defensemen Dan Boyle or Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

McLellan is using the game to get a good look at forward prospects Daniil Tarasov, Freddie Hamilton, John McCarthy, Brodie Reid, Travis Oleksik and Matt Pelech. Veteran Anthony Stewart, who is in camp as a pro tryout also will make the trip.

On the blue line, Jason Demers, Matt Irwin and Scott Hannan are the veterans on the flight along with defense prospects Matt Tennyson, Dylan DeMelo and Nick Petrecki.

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Stalock welcomed the chance as part of his battle with Harri Sateri for the backup role behind Antti Niemi this season.

"I think it's a pretty big game for me, to get a look in a preseason exhibition game rather than scrimmages here in practice," Stalock said. "It'll be a good start and a good chance to prove where I'm at."

McLellan said that while coaches prefer to see players reacting than thinking on the ice, "we would like to see some of the systematic play, some of the stuff we worked on. There's a lot there, but the most important thing is roll the lines out, let everybody get an opportunity to play and in a whole bunch of different situations so we have a better understanding of who can and who can't."